09 January 2011

NEWS: Giffords Critical; 2nd Suspect Sought; Fed Judge Killed

The latest on the tragedy in Tucson:

Authorities seeking the man seen above who is possibly associated with 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, the suspect in the tragic shooting Saturday morning that killed 6 people and injured 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The man is described as a "person of interest" and was seen at the same location and at the same time.

Giffords was shot in the head and critically wounded in what authorities describe as a "targeted attempt on her life." Doctors at the University of Arizona Medical Center say she "is not in a medically-induced coma, but still under sedation from surgery."

Report: Loughner had become increasingly erratic in recent months: "Started to act oddly during his classes at Pima Community College, causing unease among other students. That behavior, along with a disturbing video, prompted school administrators to call in Mr. Loughner’s parents and tell them that their son had been suspended and would have to get a mental health evaluation to return to college."

Among those killed: 63-year-old John M. Roll, chief judge for the United States District Court for Arizona. Roll was appointed in 1991 by George H.W. Bush.

His YouTube page should be taken down immediately and all things linked to him; this individual should NOT have more traffic going to his warped status. Whether he was unstable or not further demonstrates the need to remove it.

It is a shame that these things have come to under Obama's watch....because there are elements of this country that are too easy to tie to race and other parts of our history that were ignored under the watch of "lesser and more destructive" Presidents.

Soldiers were dying left and right, the economy in shambles and other dire events such as Katrina...but where were the "Tea Party" members.

Ms. Palin's putting select people "in the cross-hairs" which is completely symbolic of killing someone. It is fear mongering and hatred at its clearest example..

Daily Beast reports "the search is off for a second suspect," and that the Pima County Sherriff said the second person of interest turned out just to be Loughner's cab driver who drove him to the location.

Now it's time to grieve and heal, and hopefully respond constructively: like reviving the Assault Weapons Ban which expired during Dubbya--a law which would have banned the type of gun and cartridge used by Loughner.

Terrell, you really should look around the rest of the world and see that countries with strict gun laws have way lower murder rates by firearms. No one's saying you can't buy a gun, they're just saying that there will be background checks and a waiting period. It won't eliminate all killing, but if it saves just 1% of the lives of people killed by guns each year then I'd say it's worth a try.